Here are my thoughts:
The new ones do look too template like and don't have a lot personalization to them. That's partly because, gasp, we haven't added anything to them since that would be somewhat pointless for Andy to waste the time doing that if we're not sure we're going to use them.
I personally like the layout of our current template, however I am not against fiddling with the colors. So what if we changed the colors of this template a bit to see if we can't brighten it up? One thing people suggested was adding color, since it is a graying/bluish color all around. So why not go with some different color schemes and try some things to give what we currently have some flare? That might make it more appealing. These other templates are just too 'TEMPLATE' like. We want our site to have some real structure and originality to it, and what better way to do that than take the one we already have and fiddling with it so it looks new and fresh?

Edit: I just saw those three others. I like that Approx one, but the problem is I've seen a bunch of other forums use that one. I've never seen anyone use this one...another thing we have to consider about these templates is that we don't want it to look like other forums. We want it to be unique.

Exactly. We can darken up some areas, maybe even change the color of the buttons. That shouldn't be too hard I don't think. Put them through photoshop and alter the coloration to a bluer tinge or something. We can just add some color to the site, maybe some nifty graphic things, I dunno, something to it. Maybe we could even have a short flash logo...nothing too fancy, but a little neat thing to have when someone first shows up. There are lots of things we can do to the site as it is, so people need to suggest things. Maybe offer some color schemes guys, or little tidbits you'd like to see.

Also, if you join the chat we have this Saturday you can actually bring up things about the site to us directly, in live chat.